It appears that the Andy Dalton era is over for the Cincinnati Bengals. According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Bengals are benching Dalton and will be starting to rookie Ryan Finley once the team returns from the bye week.

Dalton at one point was considered one of the best young quarterbacks in football, but he has been very mediocre the last few years. So far this year, Dalton has thrown for 2,252 yards, nine touchdowns, and eight interceptions. There were some questions if the team would trade Dalton before the deadline and he touched on that matter after the team's loss to the Los Angeles Rams in London.

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“They’ve been loyal to the guys we have in this building,” said Andy Dalton via Fox19. “With the trade deadline on Tuesday, it hasn’t been our M.O. to trade guys away. Everyone in the building are the guys we’re going to work with and play with. We’ve got the right mentality with everybody in there.”

Dalton actually played one of his best games of the year against the Rams, but this is clearly a move to see what the team has for their future. Dalton has one year left on his contract, but it's been clear for a while that he probably won't be leading the team once his contract expires.

Finley was drafted by the Bengals in the fourth round of April's draft and now the hope is that he can be the future of the team. There will probably be some growing pains early, but this year is all about playing for the future.